An Ordinary Day in the Dark Times
by Arish Mudra Rakshas
Summary: Luna Lovegood fights off five Death Eaters and saves a Muggle settlement. Not very descriptive, as I had only 1 day to write it. One-shot. Name subject to change. AU. Enjoy!


_A/N: Another of my type of fics. I Love Adventure Stories! So here goes . . . Happy Reading!_

Luna was in her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry. She was pretty famous too; earlier as 'Loony' Lovegood, and then, after the Battle of Department of Mysteries, as one of the Ministry six – the six greatest duelers among the students. After all, they _had_ fought off twelve Death Eaters without any fatalities.

The Easter vacations were going on. Luna had decided to come home to help her father in stuff for _the Quibbler_. As he was a bit ill, she had offered to visit one of his regular correspondents and pick up some articles.

This is where our story begins.

This person, called Ted Waller, lived in a desolate farmhouse. Although he was a wizard, there was no other Wizarding home for miles. And there were only a bunch of Muggle homes too, for miles around.

It was a fine day, too. Luna had enjoyed herself with Mr Waller; such stories he had to tell! Finally, when it was about five in the evening, Mr Waller said, 'Luna, my dear, I think you should be heading home. It is unwise for anyone to travel at dusk in these Dark days.'

Mr Waller saw Luna off till the edge of his farmhouse, and then he turned to go back into his cosy but roomy house. It was then that it happened.

From the corner of his eyes, Luna saw the Dark Mark being shot up in the air, above one of the areas where there were a few Muggle houses together. And then, five Death Eaters had descended onto the area. Before her very eyes, Luna saw them start torturing the Muggles or (in one case) simply blast the house to smithereens.

Luna took out her wand. The Ministry granted permission to use Magic in life-threatening situations, situations like _these_.

Mr Waller came running out of the house, his wand drawn too. 'Luna! Luna dear! Get in the house! These people are dange - '

But Luna cut him short. She, unlike Mr Waller, had a very calm, slightly dreamy look on her face. 'I take it you can Apparate? Excellent. May I ask you to go to Ottery St. Catchpole, and then to _The Burrow_, where you will find quite a number of people. Bring them with you, as many as you find. Please do this for me,' she said.

Mr Waller was astounded. 'Bu – But what will you do? Come with me!'

'My dear sir, you are wasting time. I can keep these Death Eaters off the Muggles for as long as fifteen minutes, but if you don't hurry, matters will go out of hand.'

'But you're underage! And they're Death Eaters! I can't allow this!' Mr Waller was flabbergasted.

Luna's tone now had a trace of impatience and sternness.

'Mr Waller, please hurry. I know what I can do and what I can't. Please go,' she said imperiously.

Mr Waller turned on the spot and disappeared with a _crack_. Luna set her face and ran to the Muggle colony, if you could call it that.

As she rounded the corner, one of the Death Eaters (who, incidentally, were all masked) seemed to recognise her from the Ministry. Maybe he was a friend of the ones they had defeated there, or maybe he had just seen the news clipping where the six had been photographed on Augusta Longbottom's insistence to the Daily Prophet head.

'Hey! It's that Loony Lovegood girl! You're gonna pay for what you did to my brother, you are!' One of them shouted.

The five had been hovering in the air, two feet above the ground, casting the Cruciatus on any Muggle or sending Blasting Curses here and there.

'Oh let's see. _Stupefy!_' Luna shouted.

One of the Death Eaters was hit straight in the chest. The others raised an almighty uproar.

'You filthy little -' one of them started, but Luna said, '_Silencio__!_' and his voice was extinguished.

'I don't want to hear your profanities, please,' she said.

If Luna had learnt something about Death Eaters, it was that they acted like what Muggles called "spirits". If you stayed calm, and didn't get scared of the Death Eaters, they'd start getting uncomfortable, thinking that you were more powerful than them. This would cause them to not to think properly, and eventually, they will not be able to fight well.

'Let's get this over with. _AVADA KEDAVRA!_' shouted another.

Luna dodged out of the way just in time. She sent another Stunning Spell at her opponents, missing closely. Then the duel began becoming serious.

Killing Curses were coming from three sides of Luna; one of the five was Stunned and the other Silenced, so he could not muster enough concentration to produce Avada Kedavra nonverbally. Still, he was shooting other spells at her too. Now all Luna could do was to do a kind of dance; dodging the Killing Curses was very difficult. Suddenly, she sent a well-aimed Fera Verto at one of the Death Eaters as he had paused to catch his breath, and he was sent flying through the air. He was Transfigured into a water goblet before he hit the ground.

Now Luna was facing three Death Eaters, but her own power was faltering. She was getting tired. Mustering most of the energy she had left, she sent four spells at one of the Death Eaters who were casting the Killing Curses (they posed much more danger than the other Silenced one). He managed to deflect two, but the other two spells hit him straight in the chest. For a moment, nothing happened. Then he was reduced to the size of a rat (_Reducio__!_) and Stunned.

All Luna could do now was defend herself. The two remaining Death Eaters were descending upon her like wolves. But, the moment she started actually wishing for the Order of the Phoenix to arrive, she saw Mr Waller return from the corner of her eyes, accompanying something different from what Luna had expected. But it was welcome nonetheless.

Back at the Burrow, Ron and Neville were having a fierce match of Wizarding Chess. Ginny and Harry had been talking about Quidditch tactics, while Hermione was roaming about in the garden.

But then, Hermione saw a stranger Apparate at the foothill of Ottery St. Catchpole and make for the Burrow at top speed. Hermione called her friends down, and, wands all raised and ready, they ordered the man to declare himself.

'Wait! Hold your fire! I'm here on Luna Lovegood's account, there has been an attack on my village in Worcestshire, and Luna's fighting the Death Eaters now!'

Neville, Ron and Ginny lowered their wands, looking tensed, but Hermione and Harry did not.

'Prove it,' he said.

'Prove it? But how should I do that? Wait, I can tell you something. Luna was at my home to collect an article on Nargle-Water. Please say that you knew that she was going there!' He added desperately.

'That's not enough. Anybody can know that. Wait. _Legilimens_!' Hermione cried.

She had been secretly practising ever since Snape had started giving Harry lessons on Occlumency. It could come in useful, she had thought. Hermione saw enough to confirm Mr Waller's theory.

'He's not lying. Luna's in trouble. Let's go,' she said.

'But, are there no _adults_ home? I mean, you're hardly older than Luna herself!' Mr Waller said.

'It doesn't matter. The Order of the Phoenix has gone for a meeting. We have to hurry,' Harry said.

And so they grabbed Mr Waller's hand tightly and Disapparated.

When they arrived at the scene, they saw that Luna had done pretty well. One Stunned, one Reduced and Stunned, one Transfigured by the looks of it, and one Silenced. Good, good.

But her strength was wavering. She had been duelling continuously for twenty minutes now. At once, Hermione shot a neat hex at one of the attackers, the one who was Silenced, and he went flying through the air, his head (where the hex had hit) bleeding profusely.

Ron, Harry, Ginny and Neville advanced on the one poor Death Eater left, while Hermione and Mr Waller grabbed Luna and started whatever Healing and Rejuvenating Spells they knew.

The Death Eater fell under five different curses. Muggle fatalities had been prevented by Luna's brave actions. Everyone praised her.

Hermione and Mr Waller now set to work on the Muggles. They Healed their injuries, repaired their houses, and, ironically, wiped their memories of the unfortunate incident.

The next day, the _Daily Prophet_ carried the following news article on the front page:

TEENAGERS SAVE MUGGLES FROM DEATH EATER ATTACK

In a stunning event on Friday, five teenagers allegedly saved seven Muggles' lives by fighting off the Death Eaters who had planned to attack the village for "fun". As reported to John Matter, Special Correspondent, one of the teenagers, Luna Lovegood, was visiting Mr Ted Waller, a wizard who lived nearby, when the Death Eaters came. She fought the Death Eaters in an amazing duel, and was able to incapacitate three. That is when Mr Waller, who had gone to an undisclosed location, Apparated back with five more children These children, including the Chosen One Harry Potter, made short work of the other two Death Eaters and repaired the damage caused. They also managed to erase the memories of the Muggle witnesses. The Ministry of Magic has decided to endow the Order of Merlin, Second Class to the brave people: Ted Waller, Harry potter, Ronald Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger. [Full account – Page 7]

_A/N: Wrapping it up there. Maybe I'll update, but no guarantees. Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!_


End file.
